Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Sep 30/05) - The Northwest Territories could become an important guinea pig in the global race to understand problems like climate change, following a promise of federal research dollars last week.

Ottawa unveiled $150 million in grants Sept. 21 to support scientific studies in the Arctic and Antarctic, part of a 30-nation research effort dubbed the International Polar Year, 2007-2008.

Hundreds of scientists are expected to flock to the Northwest Territories during two years of intensive research, lured by vast stretches of Arctic coastline, sub-arctic river valleys and sprawling tundra.

"The Arctic is a bell-weather for other regions," said Russel Shearer, a director with the department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Shearer, who worked to secure the federal funds, said the Northwest Territories should benefit from the nearly $3 billion that will flow into research on global warming, animal migration patterns and sea ice thickness.

"This is timely. Northerners are seeing the impacts of climate change first hand. Without question they will benefit," Shearer said from Ottawa.

The federal dollars, to be doled out from 2006-2012, will also go towards research into the health of Northern communities and sustainable development, said Shearer.

"This research will provide a vision for the future of the North."

While our understanding of the Arctic has jumped by leaps and bounds since the last international research effort 50 years ago, much remains unknown, said Helmut Epp, a scientist with the territorial department of Environment and Natural Resources.

"There is still a lot to learn," said Epp, who is part of the committee that oversees the Canadian contribution to the International Polar Year.

"There are many systems we do not understand - from climate change, to weather patterns to what is actually beneath the sea ice."

Scientists will travel to high schools and colleges across the North to raise awareness about issues like climate change and spur interest in the next generation of researchers, Epp said. They will also meet with elders and discuss traditional knowledge.

Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said last Wednesday that Canada has a duty to lead the international research effort.

"We are an Arctic nation," she said. "This is our generation's opportunity to move the markers ahead on northern science and research."

During the next year, the Canadian International Polar Year steering committee will work its way through hundreds of proposals, some of which came from scientists based in the Northwest Territories, Epp said.

Officials hope to use the federal dollars to attract grants from universities and the private sector.

"There is never enough," Epp said of research funds. "We hope this will be seed money.